The Friday Five is a set of five links that I have come across this week that pertain to ergonomics, occupational health, safety, human performance, or human factors. For whatever reason, I found them interesting, but they are provided with minimal or no commentary and are not meant to be endorsement for a given product or research paper.
These links were generated during a PubMed search on the terms: ergonomics workplace and ergonomics musculoskeletal
Love et al. look into the ergonomic issues associated with home health care workers and what can be done to reduce the risk of injury.
Ceshi et al. examine the impact of exhaustion, workplace demands, and workplace resources affect decision making and the subsequent impact on performance.
Pandalia et al. investigate usage of a Composite Lifting Index to assess risk of low back pain in material handling tasks.
Chen et al. looked at the psychophysical limits on lifting a weighted box between younger and older female workers. Women between the ages of 50 and 63 years old chose weights that were approximately 24% less than the younger co-hort (between 20 and 32 years old).
Antonucci et al. examined the effect of drill bit wear on vibration and task performance. Drill bit wear creates an increase in the vibration of the drill and increases time to complete task performance. Antonucci et al. recommend instituting drill bit replacement protocls for when drill bits become worn.
NJ Ergonomics Blog 